Stubborn
by filkcatwearingabell
Summary: After an accident in Dragon's Den, Lyra decides to explain something to Silver.


Stubborn

Lyra rarely went to Dragon's Den any longer. Silver spent a lot of his time training his Pokemon there and always told her to leave when she came by to visit and, as champion of both Kanto and Johto, she needed to be able to answer her Pokegear at any time and the cave had terrible reception. Besides, there were plenty of other interesting places she could visit.

Despite these reasons, Lyra found herself entering the cave for some unknown reason. She climbed down the ladder to the lower level and stroked the top of her Meganium's head before recalling her to her pokeball. Walking up to the broken bridge, she threw another pokeball into the air and a white sea lion with a horn dived into the water. Lyra jumped off the bridge and onto her Dewgong's back, affectionately stroking its white head once she was settled.

"Over there," she pointed to her left, "Is a little bit of closed off land. Could you please take me there?"

Her Dewgong started swimming at a leisurely pace allowing Lyra to relax against its back. Her fingers dragged through the water and her eyelids began to feel heavy.

A startled roar and loud splash woke her right up.

"Typhlo- AAAHHH!" Another splash followed the boy's yell.

Quickly, Lyra turned her Dewgong's head towards the noise. "Take me to the other half of the bridge, quickly." Dewgong bowed its head and showed just how fast it could swim. In a matter of minutes they were at the bridge and Lyra had jumped off and recalled Dewgong, Meganium popping out of her pokeball the second they were on land.

After a few hurried instructions, Meganium used her vines to grab the yellow and blue fire-type, haul him out of the water (not easy considering all of the water trapped in his fur) and safely deposited him on the land. Lyra lay down flat on her stomach, reaching over the edge and grasped the flailing hand of Typhlosion's teenage trainer. The teens worked together and, after a bit of effort, the red haired boy was safely on the bridge.

All four were breathing heavily and it took Lyra a minute before she regained control of her breathing. She turned to Silver who was soaking wet. "Are you okay?" He briskly turned his head away, refusing to talk to her. She snorted and said: "Fine. Be like that."

Lyra got up and waked over to Meganium and Typhlosion. "How are you?" She asked Typhlosion.

"T-t-typhlosion." He shivered as water ran down his muzzle and dripped off his nose.

Lyra gave him a sympathetic look before turning to Meganium. "Go get a towel from my bag." Meganium went off to retrieve the towel and put it in Lyra's waiting hand.

She put the fluffy white towel on Typhlosion's head and started rubbing it backwards and forwards between his ears. Silver turned his head back to watch her. Expertly, she moved her hands and towel over Typhlosion's fur, smiling and laughing as he made his strange broken purr that signified he was happy. It took a few moments for Silver to realise he was staring at her - not his Pokemon, but Lyra. He forced himself to focus on Typhlosion, in fact he was so focused that he only stopped looking when something dry, white and fluffy covered his head. "Hey!" He cried indignantly.

"Stop whining, Silver, or you're gonna catch a cold," Lyra said, tone firm.

He stopped whatever remark he was going to make and just sat on the floor silently. He sighed when he felt Lyra kneel down beside him, place her hands on the towel and started to rub it through his hair, knowing that no matter what he said, she would ignore it.

An uneasy silence fell between them until Lyra spoke up. "You're really stubborn, you know that, Silver?"

"What?" He asked from under the towel.

"Stubborn. You've finally started believing in your Pokemon more but it took you so long to do it."

"And we still can't defeat you." He muttered bitterly.

Lyra tutted and continued to move the towel across his head. "That has nothing to do with your Pokemon and everything to do with your stubbornness. You battle to win and always have done."

"Doesn't everyone?" He sounded confused.

"Yeah, at some point, everyone battles to win - just not all the time. Some people battle to train, others do it to make new friends and some even battle for love."

"What kind of pathetic loser battles for love?" There was a sharp tug on his hair and he cursed.

"Sorry," Lyra said, although it didn't sound like she meant it. "There are loads of different types of love that people battle for: love for their Pokemon, love of connecting with people and just love of the battle itself. But that's not what I'm trying to tell you. If you try fighting for something other than wining, it will help you and your Pokemon get stronger. For example, if you battled for train your Pokemon, no matter if you win or lose, you'll gain some kind of experience, whether it's something like 'Don't use this attack here' or 'Do use a Full Restore here'. It all adds up, trust me."

They fell into silence again and Silver started to think about what she had said. She had been right when she told him to believe in his Pokemon, maybe she was right again now.

"Lyra?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you battle for?"

At first she didn't say anything and Silver thought he had got too personal for her liking and was going to tell her not to bother but, before he could, she uttered a single word. "Love."

_Well,_ Silver thought, _that explains why she attacked my hair when I called people who battle for love pathetic losers. Maybe it's not as daft as it seems, after all, she is the champion._

"What kind of love?"

She stopped drying his hair for a moment then continued. "Mainly a mix of love for my pokemon and the battle itself. Sometimes, though, I battle simply because I love the person I'm fighting, and it's the only way he really pays me any attention."

Under the towel, Silver frowned. He hadn't known that Lyra was in love with anyone and finding out that this guy paid her no attention - especially when she could have anyone she wanted - made him angry for some reason.

"What are you thinking, Silver?"

"That this guy must be a right idiot if he's ignoring the champion," He didn't mean to say it like that, the words just flowed out. He heard Lyra chuckle softly next to his ear.

Suddenly the world became brighter as Lyra pulled the towel off of his head. The sight that greeted him was both Meganium and Typhlosion looking at him and trying to suppress laughter, both failing miserably. He heard Lyra giggling to the side of him and he turned, giving her a bemused look. He watched as she completely cracked up with absolutely no idea why.

After she had finally calmed down and wiped the tears from her eyes, Lyra smiled and started moving strands of his hair around. "Your hair is in such a mess," Carefully, her fingers moved, teasing the knots out of his damp red hair.

As she did that, he studied her face. The corners of her mouth were quirked up slightly and her chocolate brown eyes looked kind of happy. Looking at her, Silver suddenly realised just how long it had been since he had last seen her, and if she hadn't have turned up when she did, he might never have seen her again. That thought made him incredibly sad for some reason he didn't understand.

"Why did you come here today, Lyra?"

She blinked, fingers pausing where they were. "I just felt like something good would happen if I did."

Silver raised an eyebrow, "What kind of 'something good'?"

She shrugged, fingers resuming their previous work. "I don't know, just, something good."

After a couple of minutes, Lyra pulled her hands away, remarking that she was finished. Silver stared at her for a moment then sighed and let his gaze soften.

"You're weird."

"And you're an idiot."

Before he could say 'what', Lyra leant in and pushed her lips against her lips against his. They were only there for a second but they were soft and tasted of chocolate-chip cookies. When she pulled away he was left slightly shocked and a grin broke onto her face.

"See, I was right; something good did happen. I made you speechless _and _got to kiss the boy I love."

It was Silver's turn to blink. "The boy... You _love_?" Lyra gave a slight nod, smile shrinking while she waited for his reaction.

Silver felt like he was looking at Lyra through new eyes, or maybe ones that had just woken up. Either way, he saw Lyra and he thought that he maybe, just maybe, he had found something new to battle for.

He kissed her softly. When she kissed him back, he smiled against her lips. In that blissful moment, not even her Meganium's cooing or his Typhlosion's snickering could stop Lyra from helping Silver get over his stubbornness.

**oO0Oo**

**I feel strangely content after writing this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

**x**

**filkcatwearingabel**


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